The present embodiments relate generally to a damper system, and more specifically, to a linear slide damper system.
Dampers have been used for many years to reduce heat loss during the off cycle period of gas-fired equipment. Vent dampers are typically mounted above the draft hood or draft diverter on gas-fired equipment such as furnaces and boilers and flue dampers are mounted between the equipment flue outlet and the draft hood on gas-fired commercial water heating equipment.
A newer use of the flue dampers are for residential style water heating equipment. Unlike the applications on commercial water heaters, the size of the draft hood is much smaller on the residential style heaters, and therefore the damper does not mount underneath the draft hood as they typically do on commercial heaters. Because of the size of the draft hood, the draft hood may need to be mounted directly onto the damper assembly. This mounting method raises the hood from the top of the water heater, thereby affecting the vent pipe mounting height and shipping carton sizes, which are both undesirable features to the water heater manufacturers.
Current damper product designs use a rotating shaft attached to the damper blade and rotate the damper through a 360 degree rotation open and closed, or it operates the damper through a 90 degree rotation open and closed with a spring return method. The circular shape of the rotating damper method increases the height of mounting the draft hood and requires a precise positioning of the damper when the damper blade stops in the open position. If the open position of the damper blade varies off of the true vertical open position, it causes an increased restriction to the flue gas flow. This venting path restriction can cause poor combustion and increased potential of flue gas spillage from the draft hood.